Tag Archives: marathon pace run

Week 8 of training has been another solid week of training.This being the third week of my current 4 week block of training this was the last week of intense training before a recovery week to end the block.

In terms of running this week was similar to last week in that my two key runs were tempo runs on Tuesday and Thursday night..

9 km run home from work tonight with 2 km warm up, 5 km @ 4:05/km and 2 km cool down #running#runchat#STWM

This weekend I have an easy 10 km planned for tomorrow and 30 km planned for Sunday with the last 10 km of that run coming at marathon pace. It will be my first 30 km run up to 30 km since the Ottawa Marathon back in May. Running the last 10 km at my goal marathon pace will be a good test of where my fitness is at right now.

On another note, after reading about and considering a pair of Altra shoes I finally got myself a pair and they came in the mail this week.

Since I am used to running in shoes with an 8-10mm heel drop I will be I slowly working them in the rotation with my regular shoes as continue my training for STWM. Once I am comfortable with them I do plan to try a long run in them to see if they would be an option for race day. For now I am going stick to short and relatively easy runs with them.

Sunday my schedule called for 27 km with the final 8 km coming at my goal marathon pace. My plan was to get started early with my youngest daughter in the Chariot for the first 19 km at an easy pace. Following that i planned to drop her off at home and do the remaining 8 km on my own.

As many of you know already, runs do not always go exactly as planned. Instead of going the way I planned my 27 km run ended up being divided into 3 runs of nearly identical distances.

The first part of my run went partly as planned. I started out with my youngest daughter as planned. However since her sister was awake when I left the house meaning I would have to find a way to include her. The first part of my run ended up being a quiet 9.5 km at an easy pace.

The second part of my run began when I returned home to switch kids with my wife. I headed back out with my other daughter to get in the remaining 9.5 km at an easy pace.

After dropping my oldest daughter at home I headed back out for what was supposed to be a quick 8 km on my own. Taking advantage of a main street closed to traffic on Sunday mornings I decided on an out and back route. The first half of this portion of my run went as planned. However, as I hit the turnaround point I ran into my parent in-law riding their bikes back toward our neighbourhood so for the second half I had pacers beside me on bikes.

To top it all off I also drained the batteries on 2 Garmins yesterday and had to finish my run without a watch. My current Garmin died as I dropped off my second daughter. I grabbed my old Garmin which was still in a drawer when I headed out for the marathon pace portion of my run. Unfortunatley it died before I finished that portion of my run.

Thanks to mapping websites I know I completed the 27 km I intended to but since my old Garmin died before I finished my run I am not sure exactly how long it took me to complete.

In the end my run did not go as I had planned but this run probably turned out better than planned.

Week 15 is shaping up to be my biggest week in terms of mileage in this training cycle. It started with a half-marathon Sunday and will end with a 34 km run tomorrow.

The week got off to a great start with a new half-marathon pb set on Sunday. That run set the tone for the rest of the week as I felt my other runs this week were also quality runs.

Following my half-marathon I had four 12 km runs scheduled, two of those at marathon pace and two of those at a very easy pace. I felt that my marathon pace efforts were really strong this week. On both occasions I had to remind myself to keep the pace at marathon pace.

So far my mileage for the week sits at just under 72 km. With 34 km planned for tomorrow I will have my first 100 km week of the training cycle.

Another week of training is nearly complete. This week was the second week out of the current four week block I am working on. It is going to end up being one of my biggest weeks of training in terms of mileage so far this week.

Following a 31.5 km run last Sunday I took a needed day of rest on Monday. Following that the two key workouts of the week were marathon pace runs on Tuesday and Thursday. This week I added 2 km to each of those runs to bring them up to 10 km.

These race pace runs are key because the goal is to get me running at my goal marathon pace. The one thing I had to keep reminding myself during these runs was that the goal was just to run at marathon pace. I occasionally found myself going faster than I wanted and pushing closer to my 10 km pace.

Other than that my other two workouts this week were easy pace 12 km runs. Once again 2 km was added to these runs to increase my overall mileage. Given the fact that I ran 31.5 km last Sunday and that my marathon pace efforts were longer this week I paid closer attention to my easy runs and tried to keep them at an even slow and easy pace.

I know have two runs left to go this weekend. First a very easy 8 km planned for tomorrow. Sunday will bring another challenge with me racing a half-marathon.

Yesterday I added a new race to my calendar for this year. I decided to register for the 10 km St Patrick’s day race I have done the last two years. I had not initially planned to run this one because I was more focused about Around the Bay the following weekend but as the date got closer the urge to register got stronger, especially since I can walk to the start line from my house.

Now I have registered and will be running the 10 km for the third year in a row. Last year when I ran this race I ran it in just over 43 minutes, at a 4:15/km pace. The reason for that is that it is the pace needed to run a 1:30 half-marathon in April which is what I did last year and plan to aim for again next month.

My strategy for Saturday’s 10 km race as well as the 30 km next week and the half-marathon in April will hopefully help get me ready to run the Ottawa Marathon in May at my goal pace which is 3:10, or 4:30/km.

I think this approach was beneficial in to my preparation for last year’s Ottawa Marathon so once again I am hoping that using this strategy for earlier races will leave me in better position to meet my goal in May.

Last week was a bit of a setback in terms of overall mileage. For week two of my training for the Toronto Waterfront Marathon I ended off the week with a total of 42.5 km. However, considering how busy the week ended up being in a way it was a good week in that I managed to get in five runs.

In terms of my runs last week, Sunday’s longer effort was limited to 10.5 km while my other runs were around 8 km with one of those shorter runs being at a more intense pace with some hill work involved.

In January after my father passed away I wrote about using running as therapy to deal with what was going on at the time. I experienced this again last week as we held a service for my father in his hometown. Once things had settled down and others were resting I got changed and went for a run.

It turned out to be one of my best runs in a long time. I took off from our motel at marathon pace and worked out my run so I ended up with a big hill, about a 120 foot drop according to my Garmin, at the halfway point. The end result was a 7.5 at an average pace of 4:27/km. To top it all off, I got back to the motel just as a thunderstorm was about to start.

Now my plan for this week is to get back on track in terms of mileage. That means getting back up to a weekly total of 60-70 km. I got myself started on that goal yesterday with a 10.5 km run.

Week 15 of my 16 week training program is nearly complete. Since this is my first week of tapering before race day it was a pretty low-key week compared to the my efforts from the previous few weeks.

This week’s training schedule called for 62 km (38 miles). With one run remaining to go tomorrow I have completed 48 km so far this week. A 12 km (8 miles) run tomorrow will get me up to 60 km for the week which I think is not a bad effort given that race day is just over a week away.

The week started off with the final of my planned runs of over 20 km when I completed 23 km while pushing my daughter in her Chariot Sunday morning. With the exception of a 10 km run at marathon pace on Wednesday my other runs this week were easy and relatively short efforts (9 and 6.5 km).

Today was my second planned rest day this week. However, since I was in need of a new pair of shorts I went shopping and picked up a pair of short along with a new singlet to wear with them. Now I am set for race day!

As mentioned already, my plan is to get in a 12 km run tomorrow. Week 16 will kick off with a 19-20 (13 miles) km effort on Sunday.

With just one run left week eight of training for the Ottawa Marathon is nearly complete. I’ll end the week with a 14 km run tomorrow to give me 80 km for the week. So far this will be my biggest week of training although that will soon change with my 32 km (20 mile) training runs coming up soon.

The week got off to a good start with a 28 km (17 mile run). As is usually the case I managed to get out the door and get my run started while everyone was still asleep at home. I do find it tough at times to get myself out the door on the weekend but it is the best way to fit in such a long run without disrupting a full day.

Following my long run my two intense workouts this week were a series of hills Tuesday night and a 10 km marathon pace run last night. Both runs felt strong and left me feeling confident about my training so far.

Now that I am over the halfway point in my training the tough part comes with the previously mentioned 32 km training runs and 90-100 km weeks coming up over the next few weeks.

Week nine kicks off with my first 32 km training run Sunday morning. With week eight out of the way I know have approximately 507 km (314 miles) left to go before race day in May.